Friday, April 20, 2012

Que bueno! CrossFit #5

Thursday, 2012-04-19

I just completed my fifth CrossFit session this evening. Tonight's session was about (1.5)hrs. long, and also included some strength training with the Cybex machines upstairs.

What did we start with? I did some running back and forth end-to-end on the court to get a little warmed up, stretched a little, then it was off to the races with the jump-rope. I completed three (3) sets of consecutive, uninterrupted jumps: (6) jumps; then (35) jumps; then maxed it at (50) consecutive jumps!! Wow. Four weeks ago I had trouble executing any jumps properly, and my trainer's goal was for me to execute (10) consecutive jumps. Guess I'm getting better after all. :-) [I might have been able to complete more than (50), but was getting too winded and didn't want to screw up.]

Next up was Bounding, then Backward Bounding. I also tried some forward shuffling with a shoulder-wide stance. This was to help emphasize keeping my feet shoulder-width apart while running. My trainer pointed out that I was keeping my feet too close together during my running segments, and by focusing on keeping my feet wider this should help improve my running form and balance.

Then I did some Forward Leap-frogs. not sure how many I completed, but was getting better at executing them correctly. This was followed by one handed Kettle-bell Clean-and-Jerks with a (15)lb. 'bell. Lastly, we took turns throwing a (10)lb. medicine ball at the wall, switching hands with each throw, and trying to pass it back and forth between us with the rebounds off the wall. Since my toe went over the no-cross line (like at the bowling alley) I had to finish with five (5) push-ups. They were slow, but I completed them.

Strength Training: Cybex Machines

Lat-Bar Pull-downs: Maxed @ (9) reps. @ (100)lbs.
Seated (Forward) Chest Press: Maxed @ (??)reps. @ (x)lbs.
Triceps Press-downs: (30) reps. @ (??)lbs.; (I felt them, especially at a quicker pace.)
Seated Dumb-bell Presses (free-weights):  (30)+ total reps. w/ (10)lb. 'bells
Cable-crossovers: (20+)reps. @ (10)+lbs.

That was it for the day, but it took up (1.5) hrs. My heart rate was pretty high throughout the session:

Zone (3): (130-148bpm) for (28:35)min.
Zone (4): (148-167bpm) for (47:55)min.
Zone (5): (167-185bpm) for (11:22)min.
(These times are aggregated by Garmin Training Center.)

One chart I saw posted at the gym suggested my target heart rate for training should be (142)bpm, so I assume keeping it above that rate is better. Bonus: No vomit threshold issues today! (And far less belching, too.) It looks like two (2) training sessions per week will make a difference in this.

For a comparison, look at these two (2) snippets from my Garmin TC logs:

This is the log from my CrossFit #5 session, 2012-04-19.


And this one is from my San Jose 408K run on 2012-03-11.

Looking at the above graphs, you can see that I can sustain a Zone (4) heart-rate for a full hour, as long as I am running. Trying to do the same during my CrossFit sessions is considerably more difficult due to the variety of exercises being performed.

I am looking forward to the next two weeks of training.

-Lancer!!

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